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Old December 4th, 2011, 01:21 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Location: Calgary, AB
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sick hank View Post
tonight i have noticed also that he keeps licking and biting at where his tail meets his butt. And when he sits certain ways he bouces back up and repositions until he is comfortable i am beginning to think that he may have Feline urinary tract infection. that would also make sense as to why he is still eating and drinking and why when he uses the litter box the urine is such a small amount.
The peeing small amounts is definitely a key symptom. He really needs to have a urinalysis done, with the urine acquired by cystocentisis (a very fine needle is inserted into the bladder to get an uncontaminated sample - it doesn't hurt). This should be sent off to another lab for a culture and sensitivity to determine if there actually is any bacteria, and what antibiotics would be most effective against them (takes about 72 hrs to get the results). This costs more and you may have to tell the vet to do it, since most just do an in-house urinalysis and then prescribe whatever is handy (or worse, give a shot of Convenia). The urinalysis should have some key info though, like the urine ph, the specific gravity (how concentrated it is), and whether there are crystals present.

It would be rather unusual for a young cat like Hank to have a true urinary tract infection though. It's more likely to be inflammation, say from cystitis. Stress can be a factor, but diet also plays a role. What is the food from the vet that you feed him? Would be a good idea to switch him to all wet food if you can. Some info on why here: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

You could also request to have some blood work done, starting with a CBC (complete blood count), which checks the number of red and white blood cells. May not be entirely necessary if this turns out to be a bladder/urinary tract issue, but the vet (a different one, if possible) can help you decide.

Good luck! I hope Hank is better soon.
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